“Tracking specs allow you to track what actions are taken by users interacting with your ad. Tracking specs will only track, it will not optimize for that action nor does it charge based on that action.”

Previously, advertisers could use “conversion specs” to track and optimize for actions such as page Likes, offer claims, link clicks or custom Open Graph actions. If advertisers used Optimized CPM, Facebook’s system would automatically show the ads to users who are more likely to take the actions advertisers define through conversion specs. However, some advertisers wanted to track certain actions without having Facebook optimize for them.

To address that, Facebook is now offering tracking specs and conversion specs separately. Advertisers using oCPM can define conversion specs to optimize for, and then use tracking specs to measure results. Advertisers who bid on CPC or CPM will now use tracking specs instead of conversion specs. Tracking specs can be used for any Facebook ad type.

For now, this change primarily affects developers building on the Ads API. Advertisers might ultimately see some small adjustments to the Power Editor or third-party tool they use to manage their campaigns, depending on how developers decide to implement these changes on their platforms.